• NASA sails across space with solar sails

  • Solar-sails-1.jpg
    NASA researches have forever been living in the skies above, forever dreaming about flying past stars and studying them. Well, the guys at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Have spent their time building the NanoSail-D. This solar sail will help NASA understand just how practical it is to send a fragile spacecraft into space from a compact structure. Unlike the sails our boats have that need the wind to blow them across the oceans, solar sails require juice from the sun to power up vehicles in space. Built from lightweight materials, these huge sails continually capture photons; solar particles that help propel vehicles in space.


    Space research at times faces glitches due to energy needs required to power up all the equipment and vehicles used. Solar sails could be just the answer, and for a change, space travel could be a greener affair!
    [Physorg]

    Posted in Topics:Gadgets and Tech, Tags: , on August 23, 2010